Bennah said:Still cant figure out what the order is. Simon you got any ideas?
I'm now pretty sure that my predicted grid above is totally wrong..
But...I'm not sure who goes where though...
Simon/~Flibster
Bennah said:Still cant figure out what the order is. Simon you got any ideas?
Creature said:Ralf's in last as he changed his engine after qualifying.
[b]Pos Driver[/b]
1 Fisichella
2 Button
3 Rosberg
4 Webber
5 Montoya
6 Raikkonen
7 Alonso
8 Klien
9 Trulli
10 Villeneuve
11 M.Schumacher *
12 Heidfeld
13 Speed
14 Liuzzi
15 Albers
16 Monteiro
17 R.Schumacher *
18 Coulthard *
19 Barrichello *
20 Sato
21 Ide
22 Massa *
* engine penalties of ten grid places applied
FIA anticipates no protests over wings
The FIA is optimistic that no teams will file a protest about so-called flexi-wings at the Malaysian Grand Prix today.
A series of meetings between team principals and senior technical figures have taken place in the Sepang paddock this morning. The cars of three teams, one of which is Ferrari, have been closely examined too.
The FIA is happy that no team is in breach of the regulations concerning moveable body parts, although any one of the 11 can lodge a protest at any stage of a Grand Prix weekend.
The FIA would face three key questions if a protest was made over such an issue.
The first would be simply is the subject illegal? The second is, if it is, has the part been designed and made that way deliberately? The third is, does it offer a performance advantage?
The question of flexible wings came to light at the Bahrain Grand Prix last week and involved allegations over Ferrari's rear wing.
Speculation has rumbled on in the Malaysian paddock all weekend, but a Ferrari spokesman told autosport.com earlier today: "We do not comment on any rumour. If there is a problem, there is a procedure through the FIA."
Qualifying fuel allocations - Malaysia
Following qualifying, the FIA released the number of laps each driver completed in the final qualifying session, and consequently the amount of fuel each driver is allowed to add to his car's fuel tanks before the start of the race:
[b]Driver Team Laps Fuel (kg)[/b]
Fisichella Renault (M) 13 36.5
Button Honda (M) 13 36.5
Rosberg Williams-Cosworth (B) 12 34.0
M.Schumacher Ferrari (B) 13 36.5
Webber Williams-Cosworth (B) 12 34.0
Montoya McLaren-Mercedes (M) 12 34.0
Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes (M) 12 34.0
Alonso Renault (M) 13 36.5
Klien Red Bull-Ferrari (M) 4 11.5
R.Schumacher Toyota (B) 66.2 *
* Ralf Schumacher's figure was provided to the FIA by Toyota prior to the start of the third period of the qualifying session
Doohickey said:Grrr, this has happened to me so many times before, I end up watching all the pre-race stuff just fine, then nod off during the parade lap, wake up mid race and just go to bed feeling disgusted with myself.
FIA's provisional grid for Malaysia
The final grid for the Malaysian Grand Prix has been released, bringing an end to a day of confusion and speculation.
With an extraordinary number of engine replacements prior to qualifying yesterday, the grid was a way off the qualifying results.
Barring any additional changes prior to the start of the race, the official grid, as released by the FIA, will be:
Code:1. G. FISICHELLA 2. J. BUTTON 3. N. ROSBERG 4. M. WEBBER 5. J. MONTOYA 6. K. RAIKKONEN 7. F. ALONSO 8. C. KLIEN 9. J. TRULLI 10. J. VILLENEUVE 11. N. HEIDFELD 12. S. SPEED 13. V. LIUZZI 14. M. SCHUMACHER 15. C. ALBERS 16. T. MONTEIRO 17. T. SATO 18. Y. IDE 19. D. COULTHARD 20. R. BARRICHELLO 21. F. MASSA 22. R. SCHUMACHER
Schumacher, Massa, with lots of fuel – Brawn
Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa will carry heavy fuel loads to the Malaysian GP grid, Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn hints.
The Briton, who revealed that engineers are still getting to the bottom of the engine reliability problem, told 'Premiere' that the heavy race strategy could result in points 'and maybe even a podium'.
“You never know,” Brawn added, “(as) there is always the possibility of a safety car or rain.”
For the record, the chance of rain on Sunday is no less than 70%. A high of 33C is forecast.
Ferrari front wind under investigation
Ferrari's front wing is under investigation by the FIA, after TV pictures suggested that it contravenes the rules outlawing movable aerodynamic devices.
On-board pictures seen on the German Premiere satellite channel, but not the worldwide feed, apparently showed the upper elements moving sideways after retaining pins came out of their holes under load. Several teams were alerted to the story by people watching in Europe, and have made their feelings known to the FIA.
Rivals says that the role of Ferrari's suspect front wings is to balance the car between high and low speed corners, and not apparently to do with reducing drag and improving straightline efficiency.
In fact, what happens is that as the main front wing flexes downwards - as all wings do under load - a pin attaching the upper elements to the nose slides out of position. This creates a gap between the elements and the nose which allows a flow-through of air that would not otherwise occur.
New McLaren package for Australia.
Ron Dennis has revealed that McLaren will introduce a significant package of updates to its MP4-21 in time for the Australian Grand Prix next month.
The tight early schedule meant that there was no time to do much between the first two races, but Australia will see the first of a series of what Dennis hopes will be major steps. The change to fresh engines will also allow Mercedes to make an upgrade on both cars for the Melbourne race.
"We will be quicker every other grand prix," Dennis insisted, "That is almost a guaranteed fact. And we will improve the car race on race. The smallest change this season will be between Bahrain and here. There's a minimal amount of time to do anything. If we've got the delightful challenge of changing two engines tomorrow, after the grand prix, we'll be pretty happy! And, of course, with a result, because it's really difficult at the moment, it's not easy. It's very apparent from what you see happening down the pit-lane.
Latest updates
0620: With 40 minutes to go before the start of the race, the air temperature is 37C. It is dry but overcast, and the humidity is 42%.
Back pain for Monteiro
MF1's Tiago Monteiro qualified in 20th position for the second Grand Prix of the season in Malaysia. After trouble yesterday as the 2005 rookie of the year is now suffering from a pinched nerve in his back.
During the hour long practice session on Saturday morning Monteiro covered 17 laps with a best lap of 1.37.900: "Physically, the session went better than I expected as I was concerned about the pain from my back."
"It's hot and humid out there on the track but at least the heat doesn't trouble me because I've been doing a lot of training to make sure I can cope easily with these conditions."
"I had a problem in the session when Montoya and Klien got into trouble and Klien got in my way during a flying lap. That meant my lap time was not as good as I'd hoped."
In qualifying this afternoon Monteiro finished the session with a time of 1.37.819 after his back problem returned. Monteiro will leave in 16th position tomorrow.
"It's my second time racing at this track. We couldn't make it into the second knockout session and just as I thought I wouldn't feel any more pain in my back, it struck me again and I felt I could hardly drive."
"For sure there are weekends where the new qualifying format will be beneficial to us but today it was not so bad for us. Despite my pinched nerve I will be leaving from row 8 in 16th position from the starting grid and I certainly hope to keep my advantage over the cars pushing behind me at the start."
"It is a decent start position. There will be at least five cars behind us on the starting grid because of engine changes. I have until tomorrow to get fit again. My masseur is already working on the case. I hope we'll have a good race tomorrow and that like this morning the pain will be gone."
Creature said:Schumacher/Massa - Masserati's
Raikkonen/Montoya - Proper Mercs
Alonso/Fisci - Scenics![]()